Rise of The Fallen

Kora-

Holding up the notebook, I tried to compare the picture to the rock formation in front of me. “Another rock and still no match,” I grumbled to myself, feeling dejected.

So far I had come across three different rock formations, but none of them matched the ones in this damned notebook. I was starting to think this map was showing an entirely different part of the world than where I was.

I’d been looking for this damn rock formation for hours, expecting to find it somewhere nearby. But I’d found nothing even remotely similar. It was supposed to be some kind of arch from what I could tell, and there was a river close to it on the map, which was my destination. If I found it, then I’d have a direct path to a source of freshwater. Hopefully.

That was if I could find it. Sighing, I looked up to the two suns shining above, one much smaller than the other as an idea formed. If I was going to survive here, I should probably map out constellations and the seasonal patterns of this region. Fingers crossed winter wasn’t close or I was as good as dead.

It was a bit reassuring to know that a humanoid species had managed to survive and thrive on Xanadis because that meant there was a chance I could do the same. But unlike them, I wasn’t seven feet tall, nor did I have freaking horns and a razor-sharp tail.

I was still struggling to comprehend their existence and the fact there was another convict running around who’d actually managed to survive on this planet. Well, until he’d been murdered.

Did dipshits on Krosa know about this? I doubted it. If they knew criminals were able to survive, and that it was possible to build a colony here on Xanadis, then it would cause an uproar.

But since the exile wrote in this book, then they would have to know about the things he’d learned. That there was an alien language filling several pages. Had they been hiding this information?

I remembered hearing that the planet had been deemed uninhabitable and too dangerous by its first explorers. Since then, any previous expedition attempts came back with the same outcome; everyone died. By the looks of things, it might not have been the wildlife killing people, it might have been the residents.

Whatever. Krosa isn’t my problem anymore…

Besides, even if the planet’s wildlife was less deadly, the natives would still prevent any colonization. Humans declared any planets with intellectual native species to be exempt from colonization. To avoid any more Christopher Columbus incidents…whatever that meant.

Earth’s history never really interested me.

And right about now, Earth’s history was useless in my situation. Learning how humans developed automated clothing recommendations, or pleasure bots, wouldn’t help me.

Returning my attention to the notebook, I came across an interesting page that stood out from the others. Most of it was blacked out, like the writer had scribbled angrily onto the paper, but in the center was a white drawing depicting some kind of animal skull with red eyes. Underneath it was a small scripture that read, “If you hear it’s clicking, hide! Cover your skin, blend with the darkness, and pray it does not find you! If it sees you then you’re already dead.”

Okay…that’s creepy as hell… I flipped through the next few pages to see if there was any more information, but there wasn’t.

Sighing, I closed the notebook and continued my stroll through the forest. Despite the potential life threatening dangers of this stupid planet, it was actually quite nice here. Krosa’s Red District didn’t have much of any natural plant life or recreational areas, like parks. It was all just commercial or residential buildings and my memories of Earth weren’t all that great either.

At least on Xanadis the air was clean and, despite nature being hazardous to my health, it was beautiful.

Moving through the dense forest, I marveled at dozens of large, bright red flowers that were growing along the graying trunks of deadening trees. They were wrapped so tightly around the bark, they looked like they’d been strangled. Despite the beauty around me, the sight of it made me uneasy. Nervous for some reason I couldn’t explain.

Too busy staring at the vines that seemed to hug the trees more firmly as I passed, I stepped on something that cracked loudly under my foot. I stiffened at the noise. It didn’t sound like a branch at all, and as I looked down, gently lifting my foot, I realized what I’d broken under the sole of my boot.

Bones.

The ground was completely littered with animal bones, all of various sizes, which meant that several different creatures had died right in this very spot. All of a sudden, the beauty around me was nothing compared to the fear that twisted in my gut. It was then that I noticed the small stringy vines of the flowers weren’t just all over the tree trunks, but fanning out along the ground and growing all around the bones. I sucked in a deep breath, nearly choking on a sickly sweet smell that seemed to grow stronger the longer I stood there, trying to take everything in.

“Okay,” I said with more calm than I felt. “Bright red flowers, dead trees. A clearing completely surrounded by bones. Yeah…nope, fuck this.”

I turned right the fuck around, determined to avoid the creepy ass flowers and vines as I backtracked from the area. Despite my resolve to flee, I glanced back at the flowers that guaranteed almost certain death. Just then, I tripped over a tree root, falling forward and landing face first on the ground.

“Ah! Fuck!” I exclaimed as my eyes stung with tears, my nose throbbing in pain. I’d even managed to hurt my hands after trying and failing to break my own fall.

Ignoring the burning on my palms, I pushed to my hands and knees, looking up just in time to see a stray red flower bud growing in size right in front of my face. My eyes widened as the flower trembled, the vine moving like a snake on the ground, bringing the flower even closer.

“Oh fuck–”

The bud burst open, shooting fluorescent red pollen. It hit me in the face, and I yelped, quickly scrambling backward. I tried to wipe the pollen off my face as I moved, desperate to keep it from getting into my eyes.

Feeling the urge to sneeze, I inhaled roughly, accidentally sucking in the pollen. Immediately, dizziness hit me, the world around me spinning with bright reds, whites, and different shades of green. I struggled to keep moving, desperate to get away from those damned flowers, but my eyelids grew heavy, my limbs feeling like they weighed hundreds of pounds as I attempted to crawl away. I didn’t even realize I was losing unconscious until I collapsed onto the ground, and everything went dark.

–hours later–

A sharp, stinging sensation in my leg woke me up.

Groaning, I sat up as I squinted into darkness, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand as they adjusted to my dark surroundings. The only source of light I had was that of the moonlight peaking through the treetops above.

Another sharp pain shocked me, and I jerked slightly, only to feel my leg being pinned to the ground. Glancing down, I recoiled at the hundreds of small thin vines wrapped around my left leg. Some of the tips poked in my skin, burrowing into me.

“What the fuck!?”

I quickly started tearing at the small vines, trying to free myself from their grasp. Once I was able to pull free, blood trickled from dozens of puncture wounds on my leg. I shuddered, watching the vines writhe on the ground. They seemed to only grow near the flowers, and had I been in that clearing surrounded by them when I passed out, I’d probably be a rotting corpse by now.

My gaze traveled up to the flowers, which were all closed once more. They seemed like normal rosebuds. Looking around me, another realization came to mind.

It’s nighttime. Shit.

“Alright, Kora. This is fine,” I murmured aloud, trying to not panic. “This is totally fine. You can work with this. So what if it’s a little dark, and there’s probably a bunch of scary, wild animals who could probably kill you with a single bite roaming around? At least you’re not dead, right?”

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, only to freeze up at the sound of some strange creature screeching in the distance. What the fuck was that?

I am so fucking dead…

Grabbing my bag off the ground, I quickly started making my way back to the cave, keeping a close eye on my surroundings.

Only a few minutes later, I heard movement from the forest, louder than my own quiet steps. I froze again, staring in the direction the sound had come from. After a moment, I heard a strange noise growing closer, echoing through the forest. What the hell? The only way to describe the sound was some kind of clicking…?

Suddenly, it stopped. There was nothing but dead silence, and I felt a chill run down my spine. Why did it stop? I looked around, trying to keep an eye out for anything in the dark treeline.

A rustling of the bushes near me pulled my attention away, and I looked over to see some kind of animal stepping out of the bushes, grazing on the grass only a few feet from me. My heart rate spiked as I watched the creature, startled by its appearance.

It was like some kind of huge deer, with shorthorn stubs on its head, four eyes, six legs and a long bushy feathered tail that dragged across the ground. Its body was mostly covered in dark fur with light swirly patterns. It continued to graze on the grass until it looked up, spotting me.

Lifting its head, the deer watched me while chewing what was left in its mouth. A moment passed, and I relaxed a bit. It wasn’t attacking me; it was just as wary of me as I was of it. The longer we stared at one another, the more features I noticed. The creature had claw marks–scars now–across its head and was missing an ear on one side.

Was this one of Xanadis’s prey animals? Something that only ate grass and plants?

It shouldn’t attack me as long as I don’t provoke it.

The creature chuffed, followed by a deep chirping sound. Its feathered tail swiped across the ground behind it as it eyed me suspiciously, no doubt wondering if I was friend or foe.

Same, buddy. Please don’t eat me next.

I smiled awkwardly, reaching my hand out for the deer to sniff. It hesitated before taking a small step forward, its head lowered inquisitively. It made another deep chirping sound, only for something to jump out of the treeline and snatch the creature up in its jaws.

Yelping in fright, I stumbled backward and fell right on my ass, suddenly staring up at a giant, pale monster. The deer screeched in agony before the monster bit down, a loud crack making the animal go silent. The creature opened its mouth, and the body dropped lifelessly to the floor, landing with a sickening thud.

The scene played out before me as I watched on in horror, terrified to do anything other than stare up at the pale creature as blood dripped from its mouth.

Its body was covered in scars, and there were even some arrows sticking out of its back. The end of its tail looked like a partially broken claw, with a whole segment snapped off of it.

It leaned down, licking the blood from the dead deer as two claw-like appendages unfurled from its massive chest, wrapping around the corpse and dragging it closer. It feasted on its meal right in front of me, almost as if it didn’t see me at all, too engrossed with lapping at the corpse with its long tongue.

Shakily, I got pushed to my feet, backing away slowly to not be spotted. As soon as a branch snapped under my foot, I froze, eyes widening in panic. The pale monster turned its head in my direction, giving me a better look at something I never wanted to see again. Part of its skull-like face was missing, as well as one of its glowing red eyes.

It stared me down, and that same eerie clicking sound I heard before emanated from its throat.

Without wasting another second I turned and ran. My bag slammed against my back as I sprinted like, well, like my life depended on it. I didn’t dare look back, pushing myself to run as hard and as far as I could.

Coming across some thick, large tree roots protruding from the ground, I crawled in-between the heavy bark, clutching my rucksack to my chest as I pushed my body as far under the roots as I could manage. Sweat dotted my brow as I struggled to catch my breath.

There was little moonlight to see by as I peeked between the roots, hoping like hell that thing hadn’t followed me. I didn’t know what it was, all I knew was that it was big and dangerous.

I glanced down at my bag, thinking back to the page with the animal skull drawing. Was that creature the thing that the notebook warned about?

After a few minutes, I managed to calm myself a bit under the assumption that I was safe and well hidden. I hadn’t heard nor seen the creature so maybe I’d lost it…I shivered, feeling the cold of the night set in.

I wasn’t willing to go back out there tonight, knowing that thing could be out there. And after blindly running through the forest in the dark, I was now completely lost. It would be best to wait until daylight before trying to find my way back to the cave.

I just hoped morning would come soon.